Tiger Woods Tiger Woods 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight 185 pounds (84 kg /13.2 st) Nationality Sam Alexis (age - &&&&&&&&&&&&035911 months 24 days) Residence 84 (PGA Tour: 61, Other individual: 21, 2-man team: 2) Major Championship Wins (13) (4) 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 Awards listed here Tiger Woods (born Eldrick Tiger Woods, December 30, 1975 ) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, Woods was the highest paid professional athlete in 2006, having earned an estimated $100 million from winnings and endorsements. Golf Digest predicts Woods will become the world's first billionaire athlete in 2010. Woods has won 13 professional major golf championships, the second-most of any male player, and 61 PGA Tour events, the fifth-most of all time.

He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer. He is the youngest player to achieve the Career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on Tour. Woods has held the number one position in the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has tied Jack Nicklaus's record of leading the money list in eight different seasons. He has been named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year four times, a record he shares with Lance Armstrong . Woods, who is multiracial, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf. Woods doubled attendance and TV ratings, and generated interest among a multicultural audience in a game that used to be considered insular and elitist. Background and family Eldrick "Tiger" Woods was born on December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California to Earl and Kultida Woods (from Thailand ). He is the only child of their marriage but has two half-brothers, Earl Jr.

(born 1955) and Kevin (born 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (born 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods (1932–2006) and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran was of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. Kultida ( nee Punsawad), originally from Thailand , is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one quarter Thai, one quarter African American, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He refers to his ethnic make-up as “Cablinasian” (a portmanteau term he coined from Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian). Woods is a Buddhist . He has said that his faith was acquired from his mother and that it helps control both his stubbornness and impatience.

Tiger got his nickname from a Vietnamese soldier friend of his father, Vuong Dang Phong, to whom his father had also given the Tiger nickname. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as "Tiger Woods." On his twenty-first birthday, Woods legally changed his name from from Eldrick to Tiger. He grew up in Orange County, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim. Marriage In November 2003 , Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced during The Open Championship in 2001 by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny. They married on October 5, 2004 at the Sandy Lane resort on the Caribbean island of Barbados and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida . They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden . In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a US$39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida , which they intend to make their primary residence.

Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. In 2007, a guest house on the Jupiter Island estate was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning. Early in the morning of June 18, 2007, Elin gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, in Orlando, Florida . The birth occurred just one day after Woods finished tied for second in the 2007 U.S. Open. Tiger chose to name his daughter Sam because his late father said that Tiger looked more like a Sam. Career Early life and amateur career Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible.

In 1984 at the age of eight he won the 9–10 boys' event, the youngest age group available, at the Junior World Golf Championships. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. While attending Western High School in Anaheim, CA, at the age of 15, he became the youngest ever U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Junior Amateur Player of the Year 1991. He successfully defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, becoming the first multiple winner, competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open and was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year, Golf World Player of the Year and Golfweek National Amateur of the Year in 1992. The following year, he won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event's youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship.

He was a member of the American team at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Golf Team Championships and 1995 Walker Cup. Later that year, he enrolled at Stanford University, and won his first collegiate event, the William Tucker Invitational. He declared a major in Economics and was nicknamed " Urkel" by his college teammates. In 1995, Woods defended his U.S. Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, Woods became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the NCAA individual golf championship. In winning the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship , Woods tied the record for an amateur aggregate score of 281. He left college after two years and turned professional. Professional career Tiger Woods giving a driving demonstration aboard the USS George Washington.

1996-98: Early years and first major win With the announcement, "Hello World," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open, tying for 60th place, but went on to win two events in the next three months to qualify for the Tour Championship. For his efforts, Woods was named Sports Illustrated's 1996 Sportsman of the Year and PGA Rookie of the Year. He began his tradition of wearing a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a colour he believes symbolizes aggression and assertiveness. The following April, Woods won his first golf major, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, becoming the youngest Masters winner and the first winner of African or Asian descent. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others.

He won another three PGA Tour events that year, and on June 15, 1997 , in only his 42nd week as a professional, rose to number one in the Official World Golf Rankings, the fastest ever ascent to world No. 1. He was named PGA Player of the Year, the first golfer to win the award the year following his rookie season. While expectations for Woods were high, Woods' form faded in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event. Woods answered critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be wavering form by maintaining he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future. 1999-2002: Domination and the Tiger Slam In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men's golf. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts, including the PGA Championship, and finished the season with eight wins — a feat not achieved in the past 25 years.

He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years. Woods rang in the new millennium with his fifth consecutive victory and began a record-setting season, where he would win three consecutive majors, 9 PGA Tour events, and set or tie 27 Tour records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a comeback for the ages. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, Woods finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson’s record of 11 in a row. In the 2000 U.S. Open , Woods broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records with his 15-shot win, including Old Tom Morris's record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, and became the Tour's all-time career money leader.

He led by a record 10 strokes going into the final round, and Sports Illustrated called it "the greatest performance in golf history." In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, Woods set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. At 24 he became the youngest golfer to achieve the Career Grand Slam. His major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club. Woods played the last 12 holes of regulation seven under par, and won a three-hole playoff with a birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. Three weeks later, Woods won his third straight start on Tour at the Bell Canadian Open, becoming only the second man after Lee Trevino in 1971 to win the Triple Crown of Golf (U.S., British, and Canadian Opens) in one year.

Of the twenty events he entered in 2000, he finished in the top three 14 times. His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 and his actual scoring average of 68.17 were the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting his own record of 68.43 in 1999 and Byron Nelson's average of 68.33 in 1945, respectively. He was named the 2000 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. The following season, Woods continued dominating. His 2001 Masters win marked the only time within the era of the modern "grand slam" that any player has been the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time, a feat now known as the "Tiger Slam". It is not viewed as a true Grand Slam, however, because it was not achieved in a calendar year. Surprisingly, Woods was not a factor in the three remaining majors of the year, but finished with the most PGA Tour wins in the season, with five.

In 2002, Woods started off strong, joining Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) as the only men to have won back-to-back Masters. Two months later, Woods was the only player under par at the U.S. Open, and resurrected buzz about the calendar Grand Slam, which had eluded him in 2000. All eyes were on Woods at the Open Championship, but his third round score of 81 ended Grand Slam hopes. At the PGA Woods nearly repeated his 2000 feat of winning three majors in one year but bogeys at the 13th and 14th holes in the final round cost him the championship by one stroke. Nonetheless, he took home the money title, Vardon Trophy, and Player of the Year honours for the fourth year in a row. 2003-04: The rebuilding phase The next phase of Woods' career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge.

He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, Woods' record streak of 264 consecutive weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship, when Vijay Singh won and overtook Woods in the Official World Golf Rankings. Many commentators were puzzled by Woods' "slump," offering explanations that ranged from Woods' rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his marriage. At the same time, Woods let it be known that he was again working on changes to his swing, this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically-repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing. Again, Woods anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form. 2005-07: Back on top In the 2005 PGA Tour season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways.

He won the Buick Invitational in January and in March he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral and temporarily return to the Official World Golf Rankings number one position (Singh displaced him once again two weeks later). In April Woods finally broke his "drought" in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters in a playoff (after holing an historic chip on the 16th hole), which regained him the number one spot in the World Rankings. Singh and Woods swapped the number 1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July, Woods had established an advantage, propelled further by a victory in The Open Championship , a win that gave him his 10th major. Woods went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. Woods' 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships. Woods on the green at The Masters in 2006. For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005.

While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, Woods never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket. Shortly thereafter ( May 3, 2006), Woods' father/mentor/inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Woods took a nine-week-long hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family. When he returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident — he missed the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had missed the cut at a major as a professional, and ended his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. A tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later showed him poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake. At the Open Championship, Woods staged a tour de force in course management, putting, and accuracy with irons.

Using almost exclusively long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week — the 16th hole of the first round), Woods missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 92 percent of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars, and seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000. The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father's memory. Four weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Woods again won in dominating fashion — making only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest in a major. He finished the tournament at 18-under-par equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May. In August 2006 he won his 50th professional tournament at the Buick Open, and at 30 years and 7 months old, he became the youngest to do so.

He ended the year by winning six consecutive PGA Tour events, and won the 3 most prestigious awards given by the PGA Tour (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Byron Nelson Awards) in the same year for a record seventh time. At the close of his first eleven seasons, Tiger's 54 wins and 12 major wins had eclipsed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 51 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for a record-tying fourth time. Woods and tennis star Roger Federer , who share a major sponsor, have developed a friendship and first met at the 2006 U.S. Open tennis final. Since then, they have attended each other's events and have voiced their mutual appreciation for each other's talents. Woods began 2007 with a two-stroke victory at the Buick Invitational for his third straight win at the event and his seventh consecutive win on the PGA Tour. The victory marked the fifth time he has won his first tournament of the season.

With this win, he became the third man (after Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead) to win at least five times in three different events on the PGA Tour (his two other events are the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and WGC-CA Championship). Woods earned his second victory of the year at the WGC-CA Championship for his third consecutive and sixth win overall at the event. With this victory, he became the first player to have three consecutive victories in five different events. At the 2007 Masters Tournament, Woods was in the final group on the last day of a major for the thirteenth time in his career, but unlike the previous twelve occasions, he was unable to win. He finished tied for second two strokes behind winner Zach Johnson. Woods earned his third victory of the season by two strokes at the Wachovia Championship, the 24th different PGA Tour tournament Woods has won. He has collected at least three wins in a season nine times in his 12-year career. At the U.S. Open, Tiger was in the final group for the fourth consecutive major championship, but began the day two strokes back and finished tied for second once again.

His dubious streak of never having come from behind to win on the final day of a major continued. In search of a record-tying third consecutive Open Championship, Woods fell out of contention with a second round 75, and never mounted a charge over the weekend. Although his putting was solid (he sank a 90-footer in the first round), his iron play held him back. "I wasn't hitting the ball as close as I needed to all week," Woods said, after he finished tied for twelfth, five strokes off the pace. In early August, Woods won his record 14th World Golf Championships event at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 8 strokes for his third consecutive and sixth victory overall at the event. He became the first golfer to win the same event three straight times on two different occasions (1999-2001) and (2005-2007). The following week, Woods won his 2nd straight PGA Championship by defeating Woody Austin by two strokes.

He became the first golfer to win the PGA Championship in back-to-back seasons on two different occasions: 1999-2000 and 2006-2007. He became the second golfer, after Sam Snead, to have won at least five events on the PGA Tour in eight different seasons. Woods earned his 60th PGA Tour victory at the BMW Championship by shooting a course record 63 in the final round to win by two strokes. He sank a 50-foot putt in the final round and missed only two fairways on the weekend. He led the field in most birdies for the tournament, and ranked in the top five in driving accuracy, driving distance, putts per round, putts per green, and greens in regulation. Woods finished his 2007 season with a runaway victory at the Tour Championship to capture his fourth title in his last five starts of the year. He became the only two-time winner of the event, and the champion of the inaugural FedEx Cup.

In his 16 starts on Tour in 2007, Woods' adjusted scoring average was 67.79, matching his own record set in 2000. His substantial leads over the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th players were similar in 2000 (1.46 ( Mickelson), 1.52 ( Els), 1.66 ( Duval)) and 2007 (1.50 (Els), 1.51 ( Rose), 1.60 ( Stricker)). Woods revealed he had Lasik laser surgery for the second time the Monday after the 2007 Masters. Before the first procedure in 1999, he said he would be considered legally blind without glasses or contacts. Playing style When Woods first joined the professional tour in 1996, his long drives had a large impact on the world of golf . However, when he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years (insisting upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance), many opponents caught up to him.

Phil Mickelson even made a joke in 2003 about Woods' using "inferior equipment" (meaning outdated technology), which did not sit well with either Nike or Woods. During 2004, Woods finally upgraded his driver technology to a larger clubhead and graphite shaft, which coupled with his prodigious clubhead speed made him one of the Tour's lengthier players off the tee once again. Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy, his iron play is generally as accurate as any player ever to play (including Jack Nicklaus), his recovery and bunker play is often brilliant (for example, his 30 ft (9.1 m) chip-in at Augusta's 16th during the 2005 Masters), and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most.

Early in his professional career, Woods worked almost exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon, with whom he started in 1993, but since March 2004, he has been coached by Hank Haney. In June 2004, Woods was involved in a media spat with Harmon, who works as a golf broadcaster, when Harmon suggested that he was in "denial" about the problems in his game, but they publicly patched up their differences. While he is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golf's history, Woods' approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. Woods plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (15–21 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the Majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. Woods' manner off of the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan .

Though he is known to be extremely focused and almost machine-like during tournaments, many golfers have mentioned how Woods is easy to get along with and has a good sense of humor. John Daly mentioned in his autobiography that "Tiger Woods is one of my favorite golfers to play with. The kid is an absolute riot and is just hysterical. Everyone who thinks he is just robotic during tournaments needs to walk 18 holes with him to realize how funny and genuine of a guy he really is." Career achievements As of the end of the 2007 PGA Tour season, Woods has won 61 official PGA Tour events, an additional 21 individual professional titles, owns two team titles in the two-man WGC-World Cup, and won the inaugural FedEx Cup playoffs. He has successfully defended a title 20 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 23 times, third place 17 times, and has won 28% (61 out of 216) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has hit a combined total 18 holes-in-one in the course of his lifetime, his first at the age of six.

He has a 30-6 record when leading after 36 holes in Tour events, and a 41–3 record when leading after 54 holes. Woods is 13-0 when going into the final round of major with at least a share of the lead, and he has never lost any tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes. He has been heralded as "the greatest closer in history" by multiple golf experts. He owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history. He has been the PGA Player of the Year a record nine times, the PGA Tour Money Leader a record-tying eight times (with Jack Nicklaus), the Vardon Trophy winner a record seven times, and the recipient of the Byron Nelson Award a record eight times. He has spent nearly nine years atop the world rankings in his 12-year career. Woods is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the "Career Grand Slam", and was the youngest to do so.

Bobby Jones won all four of what were in his era considered major championships. Woods's win at the 2005 Open Championship made him only the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to have won all four majors more than once. Woods holds at least a share of the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and also holds the margin of victory record in two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open. With his victory at the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons. His victory in the Buick Invitational in January 2007 placed him 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 7 straight. Only Byron Nelson's streak of 11 wins in 1945 is longer.

At the 2003 Tour Championship, Woods set the all-time record for most consecutive cuts, starting in 1998, with 114 (passing Byron Nelson's previous record of 113) and extended this mark to 142 before it ended on May 13, 2005 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Many consider this to be one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record (and against stronger fields in terms of depth than those in Nelson's day) and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s. When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999. He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping Woods with key shots and putts. In 2000, just four years after he turned professional, Woods was ranked as the twelfth best golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.

Amateur Wins (11) Tiger Woods Tiger Woods Stanford University (for two years) Turned Pro 75 (PGA Tour: 54, other individual: 19, 2-man team: 2) Major Championship results Won 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 U.S. Open 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 PGA Tour 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 Vardon Trophy 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 Byron Nelson Award 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 Mark H.

McCormack Award 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Eldrick "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California) is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Currently the World No. 1, Woods was the highest paid professional athlete in 2005, having earned an estimated $87 million. In 2006, at the age of 30, he won his eleventh and twelfth professional major golf championships and has more wins on the PGA Tour than any other active golfer. He is the only active golfer currently in the top 10 in either career major wins or career PGA Tour wins. Woods, who is multiracial, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf among minorities and young people in the United States. Background and family Woods' father, Earl Woods, was a Vietnam veteran and a retired U.S.

Army lieutenant colonel, of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. He was the chairman of his son's charitable foundation (the Tiger Woods Foundation) before his death at age 74 on May 3, 2006, following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer (see section charity and youth projects below). Woods' mother, Kultida Woods, is originally from Thailand , and is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one- quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He affably refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian (a portmanteau of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he made up himself. Born Eldrick Woods in Cypress, California, he was nicknamed “Tiger” after Vuong Dang Phong, a Vietnamese friend of his father’s, who served with him in Vietnam .

Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as "Tiger Woods." He grew up in the Los Angeles area, attending high school at Western High in Anaheim. He also served for a semester as a United States House of Representatives Page. Woods was the only child of Earl and Kultida's marriage, but he does have two half-brothers, Earl Jr. (b. 1955) and Kevin (b. 1957), and one half-sister, Royce (b. 1958) from the 18-year marriage of Earl Woods and his first wife, Barbara Woods Gray. Earl Junior's daughter Cheyenne Woods (b. 1991), Woods' niece, is also a golfer and had received some coaching from Earl Sr. Marriage In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny, during The Open Championship in 2001.

They married on October 5, 2004 and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden . In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a US$39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence. Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson. Career Amateur career Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he demonstrated his golf skills in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. In 1984, he won the 9–10 boys' event at the Junior World Golf Championships. He was only eight years old at the time, but 9–10 was the youngest age group available.

Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. Also in 1991, at the age of 15, he became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in golf history. He was voted Southern California Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive year, and Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year. In 1992, he successfully defended his title at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Nissan Los Angeles Open. The following year, he won his third consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, and remains the event's youngest-ever and only multiple winner. In 1994, Woods became the youngest ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship. He was a member of the American team at the 1994 World Amateur Golf Team Championships. Later that year, he enrolled at Stanford University, and won his first collegiate event, the William Tucker Invitational. In 1995, Woods defended his U.S.

Amateur title, and was voted Pac-10 Player of the Year, NCAA First Team All-American, and Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year (an award that encompasses all sports). He participated in his first PGA Tour major, The Masters, and tied for 41st as the only amateur to make the cut. At age 20 in 1996, Woods became the first golfer in history to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles. That year he won the NCAA individual golf championship, and tied the British Open record for an amateur with an aggregate score of 281. He left college after two years to become a professional golfer. Professional career Tiger Woods giving a driving demonstration aboard the USS George Washington. With the announcement, "Hello World," Tiger Woods became a professional golfer in August 1996, and immediately signed endorsement deals worth $40 million from Nike and $20 million from Titleist. He played his first round of professional golf at the Greater Milwaukee Open. He tied for 60th place in his pro debut, but would go on to win two events in the next three months, and qualified for the Tour Championship.

Woods was named 1996's " Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated for the impact he had on the game of golf, and PGA Rookie of the Year by the PGA Tour. He is the only golfer to win the PGA Player of the Year award in the year following his rookie season. The following April, Woods won his first golf major, The Masters, by a record margin of 12 strokes, became the youngest Masters winner, and the first winner of African or Asian descent. He set a total of 20 Masters records and tied 6 others, and has been the highest-profile golfer in the world ever since. He would go on to win an additional three PGA Tour events that year, and On June 15, 1997, Woods rose to the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He achieved this in only his 42nd week as a professional -- the fastest ever ascent to the No. 1 ranking. While expectations for Woods were high, Woods' form began to fade in the second half of 1997, and in 1998 he only won one PGA Tour event.

Woods answered the critics of his "slump" and what seemed to be his wavering form by maintaining that he was undergoing extensive swing changes with his coach, Butch Harmon, and was hoping to do better in the future. In June 1999, Woods won the Memorial Tournament, a victory that marked the beginning of perhaps one of the greatest sustained periods of dominance in the history of men's golf. He would go on to win seventeen PGA Tour events in the two calendar years that followed, and 32 in the next five, achievements that had not been rivaled in several decades. He completed his 1999 campaign by winning his last four starts, and finishing the season with eight wins — a feat that had not been achieved in the past 25 years. He was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year and AP Male Athlete of the Year for the second time in three years. Also in late 1999, Woods embarked on a record-setting streak of 264 consecutive weeks atop the Official World Golf Rankings. He has been number one in the rankings more weeks than anyone.

During the run, Woods won seven out of the eleven major championships, starting with the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club and finishing with the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Woods broke Old Tom Morris's record for the largest victory margin ever in a major championship, which had stood since 1862, with his 15-shot win in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Woods rang in the new millennium with his fifth consecutive victory and began what would be a record-setting season, where he would win three consecutive majors, 9 PGA Tour events, and set or tie 27 TOUR records. He went on to capture his sixth consecutive victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with a comeback for the ages. Trailing by seven strokes with seven holes to play, Woods finished eagle-birdie-par-birdie for a 64 and a two-stroke victory. His six consecutive wins were the most since Hogan in 1948 and only five behind Byron Nelson’s record of 11 in a row. In the 2000 U.S.

Open, Woods broke or tied a total of nine U.S. Open records, and became the Tour's all-time career money leader. In the 2000 Open Championship at St Andrews, which he won by eight strokes, Woods set the record for lowest score to par (−19) in any major tournament, and he holds at least a share of that record in all four major championships. His major championship streak was seriously threatened at the 2000 PGA Championship, however, when Bob May went head-to-head with Woods on Sunday at Valhalla in Louisville , matching Woods stroke-for-stroke. Woods only escaped with a victory after winning a three-hole playoff, with a heart-pumping birdie on the first hole and pars on the next two. He joined Ben Hogan (1953) as the only other player to win three professional majors in one season. The next season, Woods went back to dominating: his 2001 Masters win marked the only time — within the era of the modern "grand slam" — that any player was the holder of all four major championship titles at the same time. This feat has become known as the "Tiger Slam".

His adjusted scoring average of 67.79 in 2000 was the lowest in PGA Tour history, lower than his 68.43 average in 1999. His actual scoring average of 68.17 in 2000 was the lowest in PGA Tour history, besting Byron Nelson's 68.33 average in 1945. The next phase of Woods' career saw him remain among the top competitors on the tour, but lose his dominating edge. He did not win a major in 2003 or 2004, falling to second in the PGA Tour money list in 2003 and fourth in 2004. In September 2004, Woods' record streak as the world's top-ranked golfer came to an end at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Norton, Massachusetts, when Vijay Singh won the tournament and overtook Woods in the rankings. Even though no one has held the number one ranking for more total weeks than Woods, many commentators were puzzled by Woods' "slump," offering explanations that ranged from Woods' rift with swing coach Butch Harmon to his recent marriage to Elin Nordegren.

At the same time, Woods let it be known that he was once again working on changes to his swing — this time in hopes of reducing the wear and tear on his surgically-repaired left knee, which was subjected to severe stress in the 1998–2003 version of his swing. Again, Woods anticipated that once the adjustments were complete, he would return to his previous form. In the 2005 PGA Tour season, Woods quickly returned to his winning ways. On March 6, 2005 he outplayed Phil Mickelson to win the Ford Championship at Doral, and returned to the Official World Golf Rankings' number one position in the process (though Singh displaced him once again two weeks later). On April 10, 2005, Woods finally broke his "drought" in the majors by winning the 2005 Masters in a tie-breaking playoff (after holing a historic chip-in on the 16th hole), which also assured him the number one spot in the World Rankings again.

Singh and Woods swapped the number 1 position several times over the next couple of months, but by early July, Woods had established a substantial advantage, propelled further by a victory in the Open Championship, a win that also gave him his 10th major. Woods went on to win six official money events on the PGA Tour in 2005, topping the money list for the sixth time in his career. Woods' 2005 wins also included two at the World Golf Championships. For Woods, the year 2006 was markedly different from 2005. While he began just as dominantly (winning the first two tournaments he entered on the year) and was in the hunt for his fifth Masters championship in April, Woods surprisingly never mounted a Sunday charge to defend his title at Augusta, allowing Phil Mickelson to claim the green jacket. Shortly thereafter ( May 3, 2006), Woods' father/mentor/inspiration, Earl, died after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. The loss was devastating to Woods, who took a nine-week-long hiatus from the PGA Tour to be with his family in the wake of Earl's death.

When he finally returned for the 2006 U.S. Open, the rust was evident — he would eventually miss the cut at Winged Foot, the first time he had failed to qualify for the weekend at a major in his professional career, and thereby ending his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at major championships. A tie for second at the Western Open just three weeks later went a long way toward silencing doubts about his game, though, and Woods seemed poised to defend his Open crown at Hoylake despite his grief. At The Open Championship, Woods would stage a tour de force in successful course management, putting, and accuracy with irons. Using almost exclusively long irons off the tee (he hit driver only one time the entire week — the 16th hole of the first round), Woods missed just four fairways all week (hitting the fairway 86 percent of the time), and his score of −18 to par (three eagles, 19 birdies, 43 pars, and only seven bogeys) was just one off of his major championship record −19, set at St Andrews in 2000.

The victory was an emotional one for Woods, who dedicated his play to his father's memory. Several weeks later, at the PGA Championship, Woods once again won in dominating fashion. He finished the tournament at −18 to par and added more records to his already-impressive resume, equaling the to-par record in the PGA that he shares with Bob May. Woods now holds at least a share of the scoring record in relation to par in all four majors, and also holds the margin of victory record in two majors, The Masters and the U.S. Open. (Old Tom Morris holds this record in the The Open Championship, and Nicklaus holds this record in the PGA Championship.) As of November 2006, Woods has won 54 official money events on the PGA Tour and at 30 years and 7 months old is the youngest to the 50-win mark. At the close of his first eleven seasons, Tiger had eclipsed the all time eleven-season PGA Tour total win record of 52 (set by Byron Nelson) and total majors record of 11 (set by Jack Nicklaus). He also has 19 other individual professional titles, and two team titles in the two-man WGC-World Cup.

With his victory at the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, he became the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons. It also placed him tied for 2nd for the longest PGA Tour win streak at 6 straight, tied with himself (99–00) and Ben Hogan (1948). Only Byron Nelson's streak of 11 wins in 1945 is longer. He has successfully defended a title 16 times on the PGA Tour, has finished runner-up 20 times, and has won 27% (54 out of 200) of his professional starts on the PGA Tour. He has a 38–3 winning record when leading after 54 holes in TOUR events, and owns the lowest career scoring average and the most career earnings of any player in PGA Tour history. Woods is one of five players (along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player) to have won all four professional major championships in his career, known as the "Career Grand Slam", and was the youngest to do so. Bobby Jones won all four of what were in his era considered major championships.

With Woods's win in The Open Championship of 2005, he became the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to have won all four majors more than once. At the 2003 TOUR Championship, it was widely reported in the print media that he set "an all-time record for most consecutive cuts", starting in 1998, with 114 (passing Byron Nelson's previous record of 113) and that he extended this mark to 142 before it ended on May 13, 2005 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Many consider this to be one of the most remarkable golf accomplishments of all time, given the margin by which he broke the old record (and against stronger fields in terms of depth than those in Nelson's day) and given that during the streak, the next longest streak by any other player was usually only in the 10s or 20s. Woods won the "World Sportsman of the Year" award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2000 and 2001.

He is the only individual two-time winner of Sports Illustrated magazine's " Sportsman of the Year" award (1996, 2000). When Woods turned pro, Mike "Fluff" Cowan was his caddie until March 8, 1999. He was replaced by Steve Williams, who has become a close friend of Woods and is often credited with helping Woods with key shots and putts. Playing style When Woods burst onto the professional golf scene in 1996, one of the things that made the biggest impact with fans was his long driving. However, when he did not upgrade his equipment in the following years (insisting upon the use of True Temper Dynamic Gold steel-shafted clubs and smaller steel clubheads that promoted accuracy over distance), many opponents caught up to him, a trend that became all too obvious during the 2002–2003 PGA Tour seasons — Phil Mickelson would even make a joke in 2003 about Woods using "inferior equipment", which did not sit well with either Nike or Woods.

During 2004, Woods finally upgraded his driver technology to a larger clubhead and graphite shaft, which coupled with his prodigious clubhead speed to make him one of the Tour's lengthier players off the tee once again. Despite his power advantage, Woods has always focused on developing an excellent all-around game. Although in recent years he has typically been near the bottom of the Tour rankings in driving accuracy, his iron play is generally as accurate as any player ever to play (including Jack Nicklaus), his recovery and bunker play is often brilliant (for example, his miraculous 30-foot chip-in at Augusta's 16th during the 2005 Masters), and his putting (especially under pressure) is possibly his greatest asset. He is largely responsible for a shift to higher standards of athleticism amongst professional golfers, and is known for putting in more hours of practice than most. Early in his professional career, Woods worked almost exclusively with leading swing coach Butch Harmon, but since March 2004, he has been coached by Hank Haney.

In June 2004, Woods was involved in a media spat with Harmon, who also works as a golf broadcaster, when Harmon suggested that he was in "denial" about the problems in his game, but they publicly patched up their differences. Although he is considered one of the most charismatic figures in golf's history, Woods' approach is, at its core, cautious. He aims for consistency. Although he is better than any other Tour player when he is in top form, his dominance comes not from regularly posting extremely low rounds, but instead from avoiding bad rounds. To illustrate, the standard deviations of Woods' 18-hole scores are typically lower than those of most Tour players. Woods plays fewer tournaments than most professionals (20–23 per year, compared to the typical 25–30), and focuses his efforts on preparing for (and peaking at) the Majors and the most prestigious of the other tournaments. Woods' manner off of the course is cautious as well, as he carries himself in interviews and public appearances with a carefully controlled demeanor reminiscent of the corporate athlete persona developed between Nike and Michael Jordan. One of the few breaches of Woods' fan-friendly image occurred during the 2000 U.S.

Open at Pebble Beach, on the 18th tee in the second round. Using a driver, Woods snap-hooked his tee shot into the Pacific Ocean , then let loose with a stream of expletives that NBC's microphones broadcast live. The USGA received several calls from offended viewers, and Woods quickly apologized. Though he is known to be extremely focused and almost machine-like during tournaments, many golfers have mentioned how Woods is easy to get along with and has a good sense of humor. John Daly mentioned in his autobiography that "Tiger Woods is one of my favorite golfers to play with. The kid is an absolute riot and is just hysterical. Everyone who thinks he is just robotic during tournaments needs to walk 18 holes with him to realize how funny and genuine of a guy he really is." Woods almost always wears a shirt in a red shade during the final round (usually on Sundays) of every tournament in which he plays. He believes the colour red symbolizes aggression and assertiveness. Major Championships Shaun Micheel Records and trivia In all of his major victories, he has had the outright lead or a share of the lead after the third round.

Woods also won the Silver Medal as leading amateur at The Open Championship in 1996 before he turned professional. After his victory in the 2000 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods became only the second player in professional golfing history to hold three majors in the same year at the same time. This matched Ben Hogan's feat in 1953. With his victory in The Masters in 2001, Woods became the only player ever to hold all four professional majors at once (although this did not occur in a calendar year, and is therefore not considered a true Grand Slam). The achievement has been nicknamed "The Tiger Slam". Tiger Woods and Lee Trevino have been the only two players to have captured the three national opens (U.S., British, and Canadian) in one year: Trevino in 1971 and Woods in 2000. In the 2006 PGA Championship, Woods made only three bogeys, tying the record for fewest bogeys in a major.

Woods holds at least a share of the record for lowest 72-hole score in relation to par in all four majors, and at least a share of the low-72 holes record in two of them. Note that the "to par" and "low 72-holes" records are not always the same because, while most championship golf courses have a par of 72, or 288 for four rounds, some have a par of 71 or 70: The Masters: −18 (270), 1997 (outright to-par and low 72 holes record) US Open: −12 (272), 2000 (outright to par record) Woods shares the low 72-holes record with Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, and Jim Furyk. The Open Championship: −19 (269), 2000 (outright to-par record) Greg Norman holds the low 72-holes record at 267.

PGA Championship: −18 (270), 2000; −18 (270), 2006 (to-par record shared with Bob May) David Toms holds the low 72-holes record at 265. The above performances have also given him the record for victory margin in two majors: The Masters: 12 strokes, 1997 U.S. Open: 15 strokes, 2000 (record for all majors) Woods is the only player to have won multiple professional majors in consecutive years, 2005 and 2006. Bobby Jones won multiple majors in consecutive years in 1926 and 1927 , when the US Amateur and the British Amateur were both considered majors. Woods has won two or more majors in a year four times. He trails only Nicklaus, who won two majors in a season five times (1963, '66, '72, '75 and '80). Woods is one of the few players to have finished in the Top 5 in all four majors in a year.

He has done this twice, first in 2000 and then in 2005. Woods and Bobby Jones are the only golfers to have won 10 majors before the age of 30. Jones achieved 13 major victories in 21 attempts, making his winning percentage 62 percent, while Woods achieved 10 wins in 44 attempts for a winning ratio of 23 percent. When Woods' three consecutive US Junior Amateur wins and three consecutive US Amateur wins are included, Woods can be said to have won 16 'majors' before age 30 in 50 attempts for a winning ratio of 32 percent.

Results timeline 67.76 Records and trivia Has won at least one World Golf Championships event every year since they began in 1999 Has won 12 out of 22 total appearances, for an incredible 54.5% winning rate Has won at least five times in two different events on the PGA Tour, trailing only Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead, who have won at least five times in three different events Only player in WGC history to enter the final round outside the lead and come back to win All time money leader in World Golf Championships events All time wins leader in World Golf Championships events Won the World Cup with David Duval in 2000, an unofficial money WGC event – a total of 13 World Golf Championships titles.

Bridgestone Invitational Other professional wins (21) 1997 (1) Asian Honda Classic ( Asian Tour) 1998 (2) Johnnie Walker Classic (co-sanctioned by Asian Tour and European Tour), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 1999 (4) Deutsche Bank Open-TPC of Europe (European Tour), World Cup of Golf: individual (unofficial event), World Cup of Golf: team (unofficial event - with Mark O'Meara), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 2000 (2) WGC-World Cup: team (unofficial event - with David Duval), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 2001 (4) Johnnie Walker Classic (co-sanctioned by Asian Tour and European Tour), Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe (European Tour), Williams World Challenge (United States - unofficial event), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 2002 (2) Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe (European Tour), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 2

004 (2) Dunlop Phoenix ( Japan Golf Tour), Target World Challenge (United States - unofficial event) 2005 (2) Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) 2006 (2) Dubai Desert Classic (European Tour, won by playoff), PGA Grand Slam of Golf (United States - unofficial event) United States national team appearances Amateur The Presidents Cup: 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 WGC-World Cup: 1999, 2000 Greatest shot Establishing which particular shot has been the greatest ever played by Woods is subjective, but his caddy Steve Williams is in no doubt it was during the second round of 2002 PGA Championship.

Williams, who has caddied for Woods during 10 of his 12 major wins, was the subject of an hour-long documentary called The Chosen Ones, produced by SPARC, (Sport And Recreation New Zealand), and aired on Sky TV. Williams was told that a lot of people considered the holed-out chip shot at the 2005 Masters to be his best ever, and was asked "is this the one that sticks in your mind"? Williams shook his head and replied: "Undoubtedly the greatest shot I have seen from him, and from anybody, and I don't think I will ever -- and I could caddy for another 20 years -- I will ever see a greater shot (than) during the 2002 PGA Championship on the final hole there , 18th hole, 197 yards out of a fairway trap. (He) barely could get in the trap to make a stance, had a big lip in front of him, had a huge row of pine trees in front of him, howling crosswind left to right, uphill shot -- 99 percent of players would chip out sideways and there would be a few players might try to advance with an 8 iron.

He goes in there with a 3 iron, and I mean, there's just no way. The lip was a high lip, you'd be lucky to get an 8 iron over it and he gets in there with a 3 iron, and I'm thinking this is really going to be an interesting shot here....and he knocked it there to 15ft, obviously holed the putt. We were walking up there and David Toms and Ernie Els, who were playing with us, both got their towels and put them on the ground and lay down and just bowed to him, and you know, no-one will ever hit that shot again". Memorable shots The following are generally regarded as the most memorable shots of Woods' career. 2006 The Open Championship – Royal Liverpool – second round – 14th hole – 4-iron – 206-yard second shot, carries 196, lands on the green and bounces into the cup for an eagle, out of Woods' view.

2006 Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – first round – 14th hole – 8-iron – 163 yards for an eagle, his first-ever on a par-4 in the tournament. 2005 Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – final round – 16th hole – lob wedge – chip from 30 feet, from side of green, with 2nd cut of rough interfering with ball, rolled down steep slope, nearly stopped millimeters before the cup, then dropped in for birdie. 2003 U.S. Open – Olympia Fields Country Club – second round – 6th hole – 3-wood – fade from semi-rough around a tree, from the wrong side of the fairway and on to the green. 2003 Buick Invitational – Torrey Pines South – final round – 15th hole – 4-iron – 203 yards under branches over bunkers to green. 2002 PGA Championship – Hazeltine National Golf Club – second round – 18th hole – 3-iron – 202 yard carry over tall trees from fairway bunker.

2001 Players Championship – TPC at Sawgrass – third round – 17th hole – putter – 60 foot downhill putt on famous island green; eventually won by 1 stroke. Known as the "better than most" putt due to NBC announcer Gary Koch initially proclaiming the putt as merely "better than most," and then excitedly repeating the phrase as the ball wound its way towards the hole. 2000 WGC – Firestone Country Club – final round – 18th hole – 8-iron – 168 yards – Tiger hits the ball 'stiff' while playing in darkness to seal the championship. Reporters later said that they struggled to see just where Tiger actually was. 2000 PGA Championship – Valhalla Golf Club – final round – 18th hole – putter – 6 foot putt to force playoff and later win. 2000 Bell Canadian Open – Glen Abbey Golf Club – final round – 18th hole – 6-iron – 218 yards, from a bunker, over a large pond to within 18 feet of the cup to win the tournament.

Many competitors called it "the kind of shot that I wouldn't even try, let alone stick." 2000 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am – Pebble Beach – final round – 15th hole – wedge – holed out from 97 yards to eventually win from 7 strokes down with 7 holes to play. 1997 Grand Slam of Golf – Poipu Bay Golf Course – final round – 16th hole – sand wedge – blast from a buried, wet, downhill lie, through a grass embankment and onto the green. 1997 Masters – Augusta National Golf Club – first round – 12th hole – 9-iron – chip-in from behind the green. 1997 Phoenix Open – TPC of Scottsdale – third round – 16th hole – 9-iron – ace from 155 yards. 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open – Brown Deer Park Golf Course – 14th hole – 6-iron – ace from 202 yards 1996 U.S.

Amateur – Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club – final round – 11th hole – putter – 35 foot eagle putt while 2-down with 8 holes to play.

In the bag Driver: Nike SasQuatch Tour 460 cc driver (8.5 degree) Fairway Woods: Nike Ignite T60 3 Wood (15 degrees) and Nike T40 5 Wood (19 degrees) *Tiger will put his 5 Wood or 2 Iron in the bag depending upon the course setup and conditions Irons: Nike Forged Irons (2-PW) (all irons are 1 degree upright, have D4 swingweight, standard size Tour Velvet Cord grips and True Temper Dynamic Gold X-100 shafts) Wedges: Nike 56 degree Pro Combo SW and 60 degree Flatback TW LW Putter: Scotty Cameron By Titleist GSS Newport 2 putter (standard loft and lie, 35 inches long) with PING putter grip (Tiger has used the same exact putter since 1999, and has won 11 of his 12 majors with it.) This is the only club in his bag that he's not paid to use, and has said several times that it gives him a confidence that he's never had with another putter.

Ball: Prototype Nike One Platinum (only ones with TIGER on them) Golf Glove: Nike Dri-FIT Tour glove Golf Shoes: Nike SP 8 TW Tour Frank "Frank" is the name given to the club cover always on Tiger's bag. It is a plush tiger head created by his mother Kultida. On it is stitched, "from mom with love" in Thai. An animatronic version of Frank, created by M5 Industries, was used in several Nike Golf commercials starting in 2003, where Frank would give advice to Tiger, or even seem to be more a nuisance than a help, much in the same vein as the "Lil' Penny" commercials Nike did with Penny Hardaway in the mid- 1990s. In one commercial, Frank was talking trash at Charles Barkley during a pro-am. In another, when Tiger thought Frank was giving bad advice, Tiger told Frank, "You can be replaced." (Tiger's mom makes him a new "Frank" every year.) Other ventures

Question: Which American golfer wore a red shirt during the final round of tournaments, a link to his college days at Stanford and a colour he believes symbolizes aggression and assertiveness?
Answer: Tiger Woods